Paper cups, plastic cups, insulated cups, and the like, with and without covers, are not new. However, cups configured to meet the particular demands of a high-volume, rapid-response service establishment, fast-food restaurant, or coffee shop are unknown. These establishments have very specific requirements related to cups and lids with respect to lid storage and inventory control; beverage preparation and distribution; consumer safety and satisfaction; and cost containment. The following examples illustrate some of the deficiencies of presently known cups and lids.
A typical establishment stores thousands of cups. The cups are typically packaged and stored in nested stacks which are easily compressed even when properly stored and handled. Thus, one or more cups in each stack bind to adjacent cups and become difficult to separate. Sometimes a stack of cups becomes so severely compressed that cups are damaged. A stack of bound cups is usually provided to a beverage server for use. When the stack is depleted it is augmented by another stack of cups. The beverage server not uncommonly has to use two hands to remove a cup from the stack. Frequently, more than one cup is removed from the stack and must be replaced. This is not only inconvenient, but it can also severely slow down service, thereby frustrating queued patrons. Known cups do not provide features that protect cups from stacking related damage nor facilitate easy and sure removal of a single cup from a stack. Similarly, known lids can be difficult to store and access. For example, like cups, stacked lids can compress, rendering it difficult to extract a single lid from a stack.
Having a single cup in hand, the beverage server must accurately fill the cup with a predetermined volume of liquid, cover the cup with a lid, and render the covered cup to a patron. The speed and accuracy with which this operation is performed has a significant impact on profitability and customer satisfaction. Known lids are commonly difficult to properly position, snap, and seal on a cup.
Significant problems related to cups are also attendant to the service of hot beverages such as coffee, especially in a "drive-thru" setting. For example, it is difficult for a vehicle operator to tear off or tear back and secure a tab on the lid of the cup, while driving, to be able to drink the coffee. Furthermore, once an opening has been made in the lid, coffee from a filled cup can slosh out of the opening. In this context it would be desirable to provide a disposable coffee cup that is easy to drink from without making a mess. Known disposable cups do not meet these needs.
Additionally, as known thin-walled paper and plastic cups can be too hot to handle for a while after being filled, customers and beverage servers commonly nest two or more cups together to provide insulation. This is undesirable as it decreases profit margin and increases trash volume; but it also makes a filled cup increasingly unstable or tipsy as each additional cup is added for insulation. On the other hand, well-insulated styrofoam cups are also known. These foam cups, however, are so radially unstable that they easily deform when held. Therefore, when a foam coffee cup is full, simply grasping the cup can cause coffee to squirt out of the lid. Although it is possible to fabricate a very thick and therefore stable cup, such a thick cup is not only awkwardly sized, shaped, expensive, and wasteful, but it is also not pleasant to drink from and it does not let enough heat pass through the wall of the cup to provide an indication that the contents of the cup are hot.
Known disposable cups are typically mated with a lid that snaps over the top rim of the cup. In addition the difficulties recited above with respect to the pull-back and lock type tabs, these lids are undesirable for other reasons. For example, known lids cover the lip of the cup and often include a radially projecting annular flange of thin, sharp plastic that does not provide a pleasant lip feel. Additionally, known lids are not easily seated on the lip of the cup and readily pop-off when the walls of the cup are flexed. This is particularly problematic with respect to easily deformed foam cups. Furthermore, as one attempts to suck hot liquid through the hole in the lid, the nose is firmly pressed against the lid and into puddles of coffee retained in pockets on the lid. Although this discomfort could be eliminated by removing the lid from the cup, so that it is possible to drink naturally, it is well recognized that one almost never removes the lid from a cup of hot coffee in a moving vehicle. Finally, until the first inch or so of not coffee is slurped out of the cup, there is a risk of getting splashed with coffee even from a cup with a lid after the pull-tab is removed from the lid.
In sum, none of the known lid and cup combinations provide the pleasant sensation of drinking from a comfortably warm, smooth-lipped ceramic mug with the convenience and disposability of foam cup and plastic lid combinations; nor do the known cup and lid combinations address the service and safety requirements of the fast-food world. Thus, there is still room for improvement of the venerable cup.